Sarah or Sairey Gamp, Mrs. Gamp as she is more commonly known, is a nurse in the novel ''

Martin Chuzzlewit ''The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit'' (commonly known as ''Martin Chuzzlewit'') is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialised between 1842 and 1844. While he was writing it ...

'' by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, first published as a serial in 1843–1844. Mrs. Gamp is dissolute, sloppy and generally drunk. In her long, rambling speeches, she refers constantly to her friend Mrs. Harris as support for her questionable practices. It becomes clear, however, that no such person exists other than as a figment of her imagination. She became a notorious

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

of untrained and incompetent nurses of the early

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, before the reforms of campaigners like

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

. The caricature was popular with the British public. A type of umbrella became known as a ''gamp'' because Mrs. Gamp always carries one, which she displays with "particular ostentation". The character was based upon a real nurse described to Dickens by his friend,

Angela Burdett-Coutts Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts (21 April 1814 – 30 December 1906), born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughte ...

Adaptions and other works

In an 1844 stage version of ''Martin Chuzzlewit'' authorised by Dickens at the Queen's Theatre Sarah Gamp was played by the actor and comedian

Thomas Manders Thomas Manders (22 December 1797–28 October 1859) was an actor-manager and low comedian of the early 19th century. Early life and career Tom Manders was born in High Holborn in London in 1797. He was originally intended for a commercial li ...

. Mrs. Gamp appears in ''

Dickensian Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

'', at first nursing Little Nell at the

Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being '' Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial '' Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York ...

and later tending to Silas Wegg (from ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

''), played by

Pauline Collins Pauline Collins (born 3 September 1940) is a British actress who first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1973) and its spin-off, ''Thomas & Sarah'' (1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography, ...

. Nobel laureate

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

considered Gamp among his favourite characters in popular literature.Quotes of Note – Posted on August 16, 2013
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References

Fictional nurses Charles Dickens characters Literary characters introduced in 1843 Female characters in literature {{novel-char-stub